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Saturday, March 12, 2016

Ancient Dread: The Slaver Battle at Sea

As the Virtuous Maidensailed out to find the slaver ship, the group spent the debating tactics.Frederick kept falling asleep and losing his
bell much to the amusement of Strongbow.Malthus opened up a bit and it was discovered that he is a natural
wizard and that he can cast the spells Fly as the Eagle and Sphere of
Invisibility.

It was decided that the ship would come up alongside the
slaver, rake it with arrows before closing to allow Echo to steam clean their
uniforms, then engage with boarders. This worked well for
awhile. The Longbow and Xbow teams showered the deck, taking out most of the
slaver crew and several of their fighters.

Then the bad nasties hit. Two Shedim demons and a powerful
fire warlock appeared hitting our Corsair with a Cloud of Ash.While powerful, he wasn’t very bright.The damp rain caused the spell to only do
limited damage. Frederick engaged the Fire Warlock with several Lighting Bolts with
support by the Xbow men, eventually taking the Warlock out before he could do
much more than hurt a few of our hired fighters. Echo blasted the Shedim w/ a
Gust of Wind, forcing them to hold on for their damned lives and preventing
them from attacking. Seeing the demons incapacitated, the longbow team took out
one Shedim and severely hurt the second. We stormed aboard. Eddie and Klyn
waded into the fight. Klyn lost ANOTHER ax but picking up a dropped cutlass,
carried on.His goal to try and free the
slaves below deck. Eddie carved a path of bodies, seemingly unstoppable even in
the face of the Shedim demon. It eventually fell due to the combined efforts of
the crew and party.

Klyn charged past the enemy and below decks, running smack
into the witch, that monster known as Kralton, who had juiced himself up w/
numerous spells such as Armor of Ithan, Strength of Utgard Loki and Might of
the Palladium making him nearly unstoppable. Klyn fought valiantly but was
falling back to try and get help when he was cut down in mid-stride. Anguish
across his face as he fell to the deck. Eddie charged in heroically but was also
quickly felled by this juggernaut. Freddie’s last lightning bolt seemingly
bounced off while Roan’s psionic attack wounded him slightly before the giant wolfen
was flung into the sea like a rag doll.

Seeing his companions fall, Strongbow charged into the fray,
hoping to hold off the witch long enough for the Cleric to revive Eddie so the
three of them could have a hope of taking out their opponent with their
combined magical blades. The witch, however, was having none of that.His familiar, another Shedim, burst from the
water between the ships, pulling down the boarding planks and preventing Frederick
or more re-enforcements from getting across.Echo flew into the air w/ Ackdor in order to rescue overboard
crewmembers, which included Alta, before they could become casualties of the
demon or the sea. As a last hope,
knowing he couldn’t take out the witch alone, Strongbow expended all his mental
abilities in a last ditch effort to hurt or kill this seemingly unstoppable
creature. The Dragons were with him and the witch fell. The remaining slaver
crew, disheartened from seeing their leaders deposed, quickly surrendered or
were dispatched after that.

Freddie, in a fit of vengeance, beheaded the witch, bringing
down the wrath of Apis. A search of the ship revealed much in the way of
riches.Gold, jewels, weapons, and the
ship itself. The (former) slaves are released and given care. We are now on our
way to the Far Pendeltor region of the Land of the South Winds.